Overtime is a productivity killer

This post may not be one of my most popular with PMs around the world but here it is anyway. Overtime, in the long run, does not help a project. When the numbers are run (and boy do productivity numbers get run...) it turns out that work that is done when mapped out with a scatter diagram across many different projects is essentially the same. [See Slack pg 64, it's cheap in paperback and well worth the read] The work that is done is the same per day... not per hour.

Intuitively this may initially seem strange if not outright wrong. How could a team that consistently works 50 or 60 hours a week end up with the same productivity as a team who works 40 hours each week? The answer lies in the long term effects of overtime, not the short term spike in productivity from a controlled burst. Controlled bursts really can be effective, as long as they are just that, controlled bursts.

Overtime itself is not an evil thing. Many are the stories in corporate lore of the team that pulled an all nighter or pushed through that special effort over the course of the last week to deliver everything on time. Good managers, [project managers, people managers, senior individual
contributors] know when to pull the trigger on overtime to push things over the goal line.

The problem comes because this can be addicting. Both to the manager and the individuals. People like being super stars, like the accolades and recognition of being really dedicated. Believing this to be a great success without evidence to the contrary managers become dependent upon the push to get everything done. Rather than pushing back on scope, push on the people. It is an easier road and you don't have to worry about an unhappy customer. At
least not right away...

With pressure comes a bit more focus. That's a good thing right? Sure, when that pressure leads to cutting out unnecessary steps and trimming requirements that are not needed. But when that pressure becomes an unending stress to deliver no matter what, it starts to become noise.
People stay, because they see others staying. People work, because others work. But the real urgency and productivity goes down. Knowing that they will be there working at night, things get put off, people talk in the hallway, time is spent surfing the web, etc. Why not, they will be there later anyway.

There are of course many other costs to too much overtime, but this is just a blog and not a book, so I will give it a rest now that I have you thinking.